Pluralistic: Naomi Kritzer's "Obstetrix" (09 Jun 2026)

Today's links Naomi Kritzer's "Obstetrix": When forced birth cultists become forced obstetrics militants. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: DD-WRT; iTunes DRM is illegal; Fingertip magnet; Sony passwords v Gawker passwords; RIAA recants on 3 strikes; Parachute wedding dress; Roald Dahl (jerk); "Level Up"; The rent's too damned high; RIAA v "Search by artist"; "Robopocalypse"; You are not a wallet; The man who created the religious right; NY x voting; NY x antitrust; Media companies fund Heritage Minister's campaign; Richard Dreyfuss x iTunes EULA; 3-way street; RIAA lawyer becomes Solicitor General; Brock Allen's wrist-slap; Ad-tech interop; Apple's manorial security; Billionaires aren't taxed, "Rabbits." Upcoming appearances: Kansas City, LA, Menlo Park, Toronto, NYC, Edinburgh, South Bend. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Naomi Kritzer's "Obstetrix" (permalink) Naomi Kritzer's Obstetrix is a new, tense thriller in the mode of Atwood's Handmaid's Tale and Alderman's The Power; it's a beautifully turned, claustrophobic horror novel about an obstetrician who's been kidnapped by a Christian cult obsessed with fertility: us.macmillan.com/books/9781250423375/obstetrix Kritzer is a master of building scenarios that require her characters to express and resolve a wide variety of complex and contradictory emotions. Her breakout novel, Catfishing on CatNet is a charming and deceptively goofy story about an AI trained on the impeccable vibes in a really solid groupchat becoming sentient and demanding…cat pictures. This is the setup for a warm (but intense) novel of internet-mediated friendship and IRL mutual aid: memex.craphound.com/2019/11/19/naomi-kr...t-the-true-nature-of-online-friendship Then there's her incredibly prescient 2015 story "So Much Cooking," about people in lockdown during a pandemic. For obvious reasons, it enjoyed an revival in 2020, with Kritzer penning an excellent essay reflecting on what it means to have thought through the implications of a disaster that is now upon us: reactormag.com/didnt-i-write-this-story...our-fictional-pandemic-becomes-reality In 2023, Kritzer published one of the most memorable YA novels I've read, Liberty's Daughter, which is set on a libertarian seastead and told from the point of view of the daughter of the cult's founder: pluralistic.net/2023/11/21/podkaynes-dad-was-a-dick Liberty's Daughter is basically what you'd get if you rewrote a Heinlein YA novel from the perspective of one of the kids, who had to live with a Heinlein-type dad (Heinlein was childless and had some of the most batshit child-rearing ideas, which he managed to make sound bizarrely plausible). There's a lot of sf that is "in dialogue" with Heinlein (including some of mine), but no one nailed RAH like Kritzer. Then there's Obstetrix; it's got one of those admirably propulsive setups. Doctor Elizabeth Gwynn is an obstetrician who performed an abortion to save her patient's life, only to be dragged into the culture wars by North Dakota's crusading attorney general, who charged her with felony murder and offered to let her plead out if she would admit that she was wrong to do it, as an example to other OBs who might be tempted. Now, Dr Liz lives in Minneapolis, where her savings are running out and no one wants to hire an obstetrician who's done time. Then, Dr Liz gets a cold-call from a midwifing service that wants to hire her as an on-call doc. It's a weird offer from out of the blue, but Dr Liz can't afford to pass up a chance at steady work. She finds herself in a residence that the midwives work out of, and the nice woman there offers her a cup of tea. That's when the world fades to black, as the drugs in the tea take hold. Liz sporadically regains consciousness in a van during a multi-day drive, and already she is thinking about her escape – even as she is becoming increasingly aware of how truly terrible her situation is. When she finally arrives at the cult's remote compound, frozen and isolated, she learns that she has been kidnapped because the fertility-obsessed cult needs an OB, especially since the daughter of the cult's founder, the "pastor," is carrying a high-risk pregnancy. All that is in the first few pages, which leaves plenty of room for an expertly spun second act in which we get Kritzer's trademark interpersonal work, where carefully chosen and smartly wrought small details flesh out a picture of the complex dynamics of life inside a "high-demand" cult, from the way that members are manipulated into policing each other's compliance to the internal processes that keep members cowed even when they're unobserved by others. It's a brilliant work of sociological speculation and the engine that drives it is a series of maneuvers and gambits whereby Dr Liz hopes to make her way to safety. I won't spoil the end, except to say that it is exciting, satisfying, and has a sweet denouement that does real justice to the whole book. All told, this is a read-in-one-sitting thriller that does as much to illuminate the workings and dynamics of patriarchy and religion as any gender studies class. It's peak Kritzer (so far), and that's saying something. Hey look at this (permalink) The mayor of Shelbyville, Indiana, says only people who live in ‘shitty houses’ oppose data center theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence...ndiana-mayor-shitty-houses-data-center Last Idea Factory starlogic.itch.io/last-idea-factory ‘Her silence was more powerful than words’: how I interviewed a Facebook whistleblower who wasn’t allowed to speak thenerve.news/p/carole-cadwalladr-sarah...u-hay-festival-careless-people-gagging She won a religious exemption from using AI at work. The Pope's remarks could fuel similar appeals. businessinsider.com/worker-got-religious-exemption-using-ai-at-work-2026-6 Object permanence (permalink) #20yrsago HOWTO turn a $60 Linksys router into a $600 super-router web.archive.org/web/20060610003137/http...60-router-into-a-600-router-178132.php #20yrsago Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue: 1811 slang dictionary gutenberg.org/ebooks/5402 #20yrsago Ex-RIAA head Hilary Rosen rethinks lawsuits and DRM web.archive.org/web/20060609030533/https://www.p2pnet.net/story/8979 #20yrsago Norwegian ombudsman says Apple’s iTunes DRM is illegal web.archive.org/web/20060611194556/http...ortalen.no/Artikler/2006/1149587055.44 #20yrsago Implanting a magnet in your fingertip adds a sixth sense web.archive.org/web/20060613072724/http...red.com/news/technology/0,71087-0.html #20yrsago Recording industry: Search-by-artist is “too interactive” news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5055744.stm #20yrsago US branch of “Pirate Party” launches web.archive.org/web/20060613041144/http://www.pirate-party.us #20yrsago Pranksters give fake McDonald’s anti-global-warming presentation web.archive.org/web/20060614011522/http...w.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php #20yrsago Can. 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web.archive.org/web/20160609060810/http...idbyrne.com/were-better-than-this-vote #10yrsago You are not a wallet: complaining considered helpful theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/07/...o-complain-thats-how-companies-improve #10yrsago Web Sheriff’s legal scare strategy: throw everything at the wall, hope something sticks techdirt.com/2016/06/07/web-sheriff-acc...inting-out-that-abusing-dmca-takedowns #10yrsago Lin-Manuel Miranda declares war on bots nytimes.com/2016/06/07/opinion/stop-the-bots-from-killing-broadway.html #10yrsago Uber loves competition, when it’s the one doing the competing boston.com/news/technology/2016/06/05/uber-app-urbanhail-startup-ride-prices #10yrsago MI5 warning: we’re gathering more than we can analyse, and will miss terrorist attacks theintercept.com/document/2016/06/07/preston-study #10yrsago Samantha Bee interviews Frank Schaeffer, who helped create the religious right youtube.com/watch #10yrsago Why defense attorneys aren’t cheering Brock Allan Turner’s wrist-slap web.archive.org/web/20160611024154/http...dant-who-is-spared-severe-impact/10288 #10yrsago Password hashing demystified wired.com/2016/06/hacker-lexicon-password-hashing #5yrsago Google and France agree on ad-tech interop pluralistic.net/2021/06/08/leona-helmsley-was-a-pioneer #5yrsago Billionaires don't pay tax pluralistic.net/2021/06/08/leona-helmsley-was-a-pioneer #5yrsago Apple's manorial security pluralistic.net/2021/06/08/leona-helmsley-was-a-pioneer #5yrsago Rabbits: PK Dick meets Qanon pluralistic.net/2021/06/08/leona-helmsley-was-a-pioneer #5yrsago Competition tames ISPs pluralistic.net/2021/06/07/fire-on-one-end-fool-on-the-other #5yrsago New York to revolutionize voting pluralistic.net/2021/06/07/fire-on-one-end-fool-on-the-other #5yrsago New York to revolutionize antitrust pluralistic.net/2021/06/07/fire-on-one-end-fool-on-the-other #5yrsago The Rent’s Too Damned High pluralistic.net/2021/06/06/the-rents-too-damned-high Upcoming appearances (permalink) Kansas City: Facing the Future (Woodneath Library Center), Jun 10 mymcpl.org/events/119655/facing-future-cory-doctorow LA: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with Brian Merchant (Skylight Books), Jun 19 skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-cory-d...s-guide-life-after-ai-w-brian-merchant Menlo Park: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with Angie Coiro (Kepler's), Jun 21 keplers.org/upcoming-events-internal/cory-doctorow-2026 Toronto: TBA, Jun 23 NYC: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with Jonathan Coulton (The Strand), Jun 24 strandbooks.com/cory-doctorow-the-reverse-centaur-s-guide-to-life-after-ai.html Philadelphia: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with David Williams (Fitler Club/Philadelphia Citizen), Jun 25 eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-book-event-tickets-1990110326559 Chicago: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with Rick Perlstein (Exile in Bookville), Jun 26 exileinbookville.com/events/50628 Edinburgh International Book Festival with Jimmy Wales, Aug 17 edbookfest.co.uk/events/the-front-list-cory-doctorow-and-jimmy-wales South Bend: An Evening With Cory Doctorow (Notre Dame), Oct 6 franco.nd.edu/events/2026/10/06/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow Recent appearances (permalink) The Enshittification of Life, the Universe, and Everything lukewsavage.com/p/the-enshittification-of-life-the Cory Doctorow's digital jail-break (DW In Focus) dw.com/en/cory-doctorows-digital-jail-break/audio-77414035 Why the Internet Got Worse and What to Do About It (Jim Rutt) (RIP) jimruttshow.com/cory-doctorow-3 On Enshittification – and what can be done about it (Re:publica) youtube.com/watch EFFecting Change: How to Disenshittify the Internet (EFF, with Wendy Liu) archive.org/details/effecting-change-enshittification Latest books (permalink) "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025 us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (lost-cause.org). "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books redteamblues.com. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 chokepointcapitalism.com Upcoming books (permalink) "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai) "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027 "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, April 20, 2027 "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor. "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE. "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING. A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): mamot.fr/@pluralistic Bluesky (no ads, possible tracking and data-collection): bsky.app/profile/doctorow.pluralistic.net Medium (no ads, paywalled): doctorow.medium.com Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. 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